As Genzo ran towards Kiya and Cameron, his hands began to vibrate more vigorously. Aware of this, he continued to run. As he ran, the flesh that was Thomas slowly began to take form. Flesh began to engulf Thomas, or what was once him. Thomas began to imitate the humanoids; Kiya, Cameron, and Genzo watched on. Kiya, already pointing the revolver at Thomas, spoke.
"Cam... He is not the Thomas you knew."
"I… know."
After the brief moment, they focused on the monster. It would take its monstrous form in five seconds. They waited; that is when Kiya caught a glimpse of Thomas's heart, still beating. Although it was nothing unusual, he sensed something. He felt the heart talking, talking to him. He didn't know what it was saying, but he heard one thing.
"S…ve….m…" Kiya felt the heart's words.
"What?" The surreal sounds filled Kiya's ears; they felt as if they were speaking another language, but to Kiya, they were wet and sloppy.
Kiya tried to make out what Thomas had said. After a while, these three words came into Kiya's mind. 'Save me.' That is when he realized the horrifying truth. These humanoids once had a family, they once had emotions, they once had friends, they once had... a life.
Kiya learned another truth: that if he were to get caught, he would transform into a humanoid like it.
Of course, Kiya felt fear, but what was necessary here was courage, and Kiya understood this. Having held up a revolver for so long, it was clear that his hand was aching, so for a quick moment, he loosened his hand.
The flesh started to twirl, leaving no time for rest. Smoke filled the air as Kiya and the rest backed out. SWISH! Tentacles swung at them from the flesh, exceeding their anticipations. Once the tentacles got close enough, they jumped, and the tentacles went under.
"They can produce tentacles now?"
"Seems so," Genzo said in a struggling voice while dodging the tentacles.
The tentacles swung with the tenacity of an octopus. As they continued dodging the tentacles, a strange movement happened in the background.
The wounded humanoid had somehow risen and gradually began to heal. Still hungry, it looked at Kiya. Although the humanoids were not intelligent, they had a primal instinct, and when they were hungry, it grew.
It took a look at Kiya one last time before pouncing towards him. Cameron, seeing this, jumped in front of the humanoid and between Kiya and SLASH; the humanoid cut Cameron across the chest. Kiya looked back to see Cameron failing.
"CAM!!" Screaming, Kiya ran towards Cameron, followed by Genzo, pointing his revolver at the creature.
Then, KRKK, bones broke as the humanoid held Cameron by the throat; cracking bones again filled the air as the creature shoved its arm into Cameron's ribs. Heart busted, lungs ripped, he knew that death was inescapable now. BAM! BAM! Kiya blew two bullets into the humanoid's head, ensuring its death.
Cameron looked at Kiya.
"Ki... ya." Voice weak, only death could set him free.
Cameron reached for Kiya's hands. Pain was nothing new to him, but not having the luxury to see his mother once again was painful. Kiya held his hands out as Cameron slowly held them.
"Cameron, why?" Kiya said with tearful eyes.
"Shit, Cam," Genzo said.
"Because... we are... friends, right?" His breath started to slow down, and his pupils began to dilate. His lungs were visible from the outside.
"Ca…m."
"Tell my mother I escaped." With that, he drew his last breath.
Kiya's next thought was to kill himself to go to the past. He picked up the revolver and pulled the trigger. Seeing this, Genzo rushed to Kiya, but the bullet didn't come out. He tried to pull the trigger again but was interrupted by Genzo. Genzo rushed to Kiya and held his arm back, preventing him from shooting.
"Genzo... take your arms from me," Kiya said, while struggling to get out of Genzo's hold.
"No...NO, I cannot allow you to kill yourself." Genzo struggled.
"If I kill myself, I can go back—" Kiya tried saying these words but could not; he felt as if his lips were sealed tight with an invisible lock.
He looked forward to seeing Lady Death. "Shhh," Lady Death uttered. Kiya watched on as Lady Death vanished into thin air. Realizing that he could not even speak of his idea, he shut his mouth.
Kiya glanced at Genzo with tearful eyes as Genzo looked back. His eyes were watery, and his lips were dry and bloody. Genzo slowly loosened his hold, entrusting his friend not to kill himself. Kiya's knees became weak as he dropped to the ground.
"ARE YOU STUPID? JUST BECAUSE ONE OF US DIED, DOESN'T MEAN THAT YOU DON'T HAVE A LIFE." Genzo shouted at Kiya. He looked at Kiya's eyes, which did not have a hint of suicide, and yet he continued.
Genzo wondered what the reason was; the only thing in Kiya's eyes was hope when Genzo got hold of him. Genzo thought about it, gazing at Kiya, whose eyes were on the ground. A sudden realization gripped Genzo—a chilling fear that he had unwittingly shattered the one plan guaranteed to save Cameron. But thinking that the plan involved his own life, he scrapped the idea but became less furious.
"Look, you don't have to kill yourself because of one's demise; we still have to fight for his sake."
"I'm sorry."
"No need to be sorry. Everyone goes through this."
"But Cam…" His eyes filled with tears again.
"Hey, he cannot go up in peace if you cry like this."
"R...ight." Kiya wiped the tears off his face with his arm before turning to Genzo, who offered up an arm to get up.
Grabbing Genzo's arm, Kiya slowly got up. He looked at Cam.
"Wait. Let him see peace." Kiya said before going over to Cam's body and closing Cam's eyes.
"Are you ready?"
"Yeah."
"Alright then, I know this is too hard, but let's do it for Cam's sake."
"Alright." Kiya grabbed the revolver, checking its bullets; only one was left. He looked at the guard, who had already run towards the gate, hiding somewhere around there.
"Wait, if I could get more bullets, we may be able to kill this monster." Kiya skimmed the twirling flesh and called Thomas.
The stadium became smoky, and dark clouds filled the sky as bolts of lightning struck after thunder. The stadium erupted in laughter, and words of encouragement were heard throughout, not for victory nor failure, but for amusement. They were puppets to the audience, a mere show; a vast number of nobles were also present, smiling at the utter chaos.
The prison raked in money, hosting a live show for the nobles. A familiar figure wearing a monocle was also staring, sipping tea.
"I guess it's time for me to join."
Terror on the playground.